Thank you, Chairperson and hon members. These three linked amending Bills can be considered as a trilogy arising out of the division, in May 2009, of education legislation at the national level between the Department of Higher Education and Training and the Department of Basic Education. This division precipitated the need for technical corrections and legislation applicable to skills development that had been transferred from the Department of Labour to the Department of Higher Education and Training.
The amending Bills are technical in nature, addressing the legislative consequences of the departmental restructuring, do not impact on the substance of any legislation and do not introduce any new policy or legislation.
They are rather intended to make their principal Acts more explicit and specific and to tighten any generalities; to clarify existing policy, concepts and qualifications that are dealt with in different pieces of legislation; and to clarify definitions and objectives of the legislation and to include them in a readily accessible source.
The first of the three amending Bills tabled by the Department of Higher Education and Training is the Higher Education Laws Amendment Bill, which deals primarily with the National Qualifications Framework Act and the Skills Development Act. It also seeks to align core education legislation with the new education dispensation.
The pieces of legislation to be amended include the Higher Education Act, the Skills Development Act, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme Act and the National Qualifications Framework Act. This will ensure that all higher education programmes offered in South Africa by a foreign-based institution are registered with the National Qualification Framework. In addition, all higher education institutions that offer degrees, diplomas or certificates must be registered with the National Qualifications Framework.
The second Bill, the Higher Education and Training Laws Amendment Bill, also seeks to bring about alignment of the following core pieces of legislation with the new education dispensation that came about in 2009, when the former Department of Education was split into the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Higher Education and Training as a result of the transfer of administration and powers.
Even though the Bill seeks to introduce new sections in the Adult Basic Education and Training Act and the Further Education and Training Colleges Act, these sections are, in fact, incorporations of existing statutory provisions applicable to these institutions before the transfer.
The existing statutory provisions, currently contained in the National Education Policy Act of 1996 and in the Employment of Educators Act of 1998, are laws that have been primarily transferred to the Minister of Basic Education and that are relevant to adult education and training centres and further education and training colleges only in so far as the laws relate to those institutions.
The Skills Development Levies Amendment Bill, the third amending Bill of the trilogy, aims to effect certain amendments to take into account the transfer in 2009 of the skills development responsibility from the Department of Labour to the Department of Higher Education and Training.
It amends the principal Act's definition of "director-general" and "Minister" from Labour to Higher Education and Training. The Select Committee on Education and Recreation considered and adopted the three Bills without amendments. I thank you. [Applause.] Debate concluded.
Higher Education Laws Amendment Bill agreed to in accordance with section 75 of the Constitution.
Question put: That the Higher Education and Training Laws Amendment Bill be agreed to.
IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape.
Higher Education and Training Laws Amendment Bill accordingly agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.
Skills Development Levies Amendment Bill agreed to in accordance with section 75 of the Constitution.